Procrastination

It has been a busy week. So busy I almost forgot to do a blog post.

We got back from LA, went back to our regular jobs, the weekend was spent planning and executing a series of videos reaching out to potential low-level sponsors–as well as going to a friend’s boutique opening and having meals with our lovely families, I’ve had day-job work follow me home three nights this week breaking into prime PoPS-work time, last night I recorded a podcast interview with Eric from Why I Love Comics, I had to get a cashier’s check on my lunch break today because I’m signing the paperwork on making Pineapple Boy Productions a Limited Liability Limited Partnership company tonight, and then tomorrow morning we’re shipping off to Gen Con for the weekend. I left that a ridiculously long run-on sentence because it’s felt like a ridiculously cramped run-on week.

I’ve also been trying to force myself to sit down and write episode 8 of PoPS. So far I have 6 pages. Usually, I’m fairly good about making myself work on the show. I wasn’t during school. I was a champion homework procrastinator throughout my entire education, but since no one is making me do PoPS, I can usually take the necessary steps to force it upon myself. It’s easiest to procrastinate during pre-production though. Writing feels like a lot of work sometimes. I think it’s the biggest payoff too, I never feel more accomplished than picking up a completed first draft as it shoots out of a printer. I think that’s probably the purest feeling of creation in the picture-making process. A story didn’t exist. Now, it does. You can hand it to someone else and they can experience it. The payoff is completely worth the effort, but it’s also the easiest part to distract yourself from. Anytime you’re opting into a period of intense concentration, I think it takes a little convincing. Even if it’s only for a short burst. The amazing writer Jane Espensen of Buffy/Angel/Firefly/Gilmore Girls/Battlestar…/Once Upon…/Husbands does hour-long writing sprints probably for just this purpose. Yes, you’re giving yourself over to what feels like a difficult task, but it’s only for an hour and then you can watch TV. I prefer to have a long period of time set aside with the hopes of being able to get into the zone where it no longer feels like work. Writing can be fun and it’s always fulfilling, but it’s rare that it doesn’t feel like work.

So I’ve been battling that this week. It’s only been easier to procrastinate with all the other stuff going on that I’ve been trying my best to juggle. Once I do have a completed script comes the two other easiest-to-procrastinate processes: scheduling and shot listing. It’s all that careful planning that ultimately makes the show so satisfying that’s the hardest to sit down and do.